Shoaling fish for a 310g mixed reef?

[neilldrever]

Hi, looking for ideas for a shoal to add to our tank. Stocking is minimal at the moment with 4 Clownfish, 1 Pink Spotted Goby, 1 Royal Gramma, 1 Yellow Coris Wrasse, 1 Striated Tang and 1 Unicorn Tang. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[blaxsun]

Chromis, anthias (need to be fed more often) and cardinalfish all tend to shoal nicely.

 

[Tcook]

Not sure anything truly shoals in our aquariums. Anthias still stay somewhat grouped. At least my lyretails do. Green chromis maybe, if they don't die off.

 

[neilldrever]

Chromis are not an option. We have just rehomed a breeding pair of Yellow Chromis that dominated a previous tank and it was only possible to catch them when draining the tank.
Weren't really considering Anthias due to the feeding regime and our busy work schedules.
Cardinalfish could be a possibility but a bit dull according to the fiancée. We have seen Chalk Bass (Serranus tortugarum) for sale often here but have never kept them so if anyone has and can share their experiences that would be great.

 

[Tcook]

Chromis are not an option. We have just rehomed a breeding pair of Yellow Chromis that dominated a previous tank and it was only possible to catch them when draining the tank.
Weren't really considering Anthias due to the feeding regime and our busy work schedules.
Cardinalfish could be a possibility but a bit dull according to the fiancée. We have seen Chalk Bass (Serranus tortugarum) for sale often here but have never kept them so if anyone has and can share their experiences that would be great.

Green chromis are quite whimpy but I get it. Feeding the anthias is quite easy. Mine eat TDO small pellets three times a day dispensed with the Avast Plank. Works great. They get mysis and eggs at night when I am home. Nothing looks as nice as a group of anthias imo.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Chromis (if healthy)
Anthias such as Lyretail
dartfish
Firefish goby

 

[Tcook]

Chromis (if healthy)
Anthias such as Lyretail
dartfish
Firefish goby

Forgot about those. A group of scissortail dartfish would look great.

 

[tritonpower]

this guy's chromis school is amazing

 

[tritonpower]

Facebook link is blocked. It is keiji oda on facebook. Look up his reef tank and video. He posts under askBRS Stunning.

 

[i cant think]

Chromis (if healthy)
Anthias such as Lyretail
dartfish
Firefish goby

Just a heads up, fire fish don’t shoal, they more so stay close to eachother but seem to mind their own business, similar to wrasses. Also, only one species is communal, Nemateleotris magnifica. Even then it’s not 100% that the fire fish will be communal. The other thing with fire fish and dart fish is they seem to prefer to be in lower numbers (groups of 3-5) so if you did go for 10+ then personally I think you would ideally want 3-5 of different species.

If you want a slightly better Shoaling fish and don’t mind the jumping then look into the tilefish. Specifically Hoplolatilus starckii, Hoplolatilus marcosi, Hoplolatilus luteus. These are all the easier to keep ones and so often they will survive and thrive for much longer in captivity than say Hoplolatilus chlupatyi or Hoplolatilus fronticinctus.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Chromis need to be fed as frequently as anthias, if you want to keep the entire school, rather than they kill each other over food, as the weakest are forced out.
Dart or fire fish gobies, will try to pair out.
I've bred banggai cardinals in the past, and only females, juvenile males and mouth brooding males will school. Individual dominant males will hold 3D territories in the water column and "fight" off other dominant males.
In my 75 gallon, there is enough space for 2 territories. (left and right side) In the beginning, there only enough space for the dominant male, and the school is forced to the other side, but shortly afterwards, the next sub dominant male will take the other space and the rest of the school wont fit and have to be removed.
I've visited the public aquarium (Loveland) at Salt Lake City, and they have a large system, must be over 5' by 10', where the 100+ banggai cardinals where shoolling, and the males held territories about 2-3 feet apart from each other. The males would not allow any other cardinal in their breeding territories, except for a ripe female. There were multiple males holding within the school. The school was hovering over an open sandy area, where there was no dominant male.

As for schooling, I have set up a gyre in my system that spins the water lie a whirl pool, around a center reef. The water will spin clockwise around the reef, and the rock work is away from the back wall. Within the grye, most of my fish appear to "school" by swimming against the current, along the front glass. I guess they could swim against the back glass as well, but since there's nothing to see there, they prefer to be "schooling" on the outside and into my room. If the current is too slow, there is no schooling behavior. If the water is moving fast, they are forced to school, just to stay in position.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just a heads up, fire fish don’t shoal, they more so stay close to eachother but seem to mind their own business, similar to wrasses. Also, only one species is communal, Nemateleotris magnifica. Even then it’s not 100% that the fire fish will be communal. The other thing with fire fish and dart fish is they seem to prefer to be in lower numbers (groups of 3-5) so if you did go for 10+ then personally I think you would ideally want 3-5 of different species.

If you want a slightly better Shoaling fish and don’t mind the jumping then look into the tilefish. Specifically Hoplolatilus starckii, Hoplolatilus marcosi, Hoplolatilus luteus. These are all the easier to keep ones and so often they will survive and thrive for much longer in captivity than say Hoplolatilus chlupatyi or Hoplolatilus fronticinctus.

I have 5 and they stick together when out and swim back and forth at upper third of tank

 

[i cant think]

I have 5 and they stick together when out and swim back and forth at upper third of tank

It could be more of a survival instinct, however they aren’t a great fish to rely on when it comes to shoaling.